Notorious Former Security Chief Threatens TV Anchor over Tweet

Former director-general of the General Security Jamil Al-Sayyed threatened MTV news anchor Jessica Azar to file legal proceedings against her if she refuses to delete a Tweet she had posted about him on her account.

It all started when journalist Diana Moukalled posted a tweet lashing out at Al-Sayyed's candidacy for the Shiite seat in the Baalbeck-Hermel district in the upcoming parliamentary polls.

"Jamil Al-Sayyed, who played a negative role [...] during the 90s, will be nominated by Hezbollah for the elections," Moukalled wrote.

Azar retweeted her colleague's post, adding her own comments to it.

“What a bad day it will be when a former security officer who had for long assumed the rank of an informant could become a deputy,” Azar wrote.

Speaking to the Kataeb website, Azar said that she hadn't received Al-Sayyed's warning in person given that she had a day off today, noting it is a notarized document asking her to delete the comment, or else face legal pursuit.

The TV anchor affirmed that she won't delete the tweet, saying that this is not how the media should be dealt with.

"The era of tyranny is over," she stressed. "Jamil Al-Sayyed is one of the main figureheads of the Lebanese-Syrian security system which governed Lebanon during the worst phase of its history."